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As the owner of a wellness company with a dietetics background, I am inherently wary of diets and fad eating trends. But then, as an office, we tried Whole30, a 30-day individual eating “reset.” Sure, some of us lost weight, but it was the residual effects of focusing on clean eating that had us sold.

To be clear, I believe many diets to be unrealistic, impossible to maintain, or even unhealthy. So why try Whole30? I was skeptical, but listened to someone tell me about it because it isn’t a “diet.” It takes into account that different foods are going to impact people in different ways. You might feel bloated, but is dairy the culprit? Or is it bread? Rather than blindly giving up whole categories of foods without really knowing why (think: everyone’s going gluten-free these days, etc.), why not test it to see what works or doesn’t work for you? It made sense to me.

So what is Whole30? It’s a nutrition reset aimed at improving your metabolism, healing your digestive tract, balancing your immune system and kicking your unhealthy habits and cravings for good. In a nutshell, for 30 days we gave up legumes, dairy, alcohol, sugar, grains, and processed foods, MSG, carrageenan and sulfites, foods that can trigger inflammation and food cravings (for the fine print, read more at https://whole30.com). We tracked how we felt and, at the end of the program, slowly re-introduced foods to determine which ones might be negatively impacting how we feel.

What it’s not: a diet. We are not meant to eat this way forever (although many of us have stuck to parts of the program because we found which foods make us feel better/worse). But more importantly, along the way we discovered some interesting things about ourselves, our eating habits and food triggers.

We all experienced some of the following after focusing on clean eating for 30 days:

Improved mental clarity

Reduced inflammation

Reduced bloating

Weight loss & inches (waist, thighs, arms)

An appreciation for preparing our own food

Better sleep

Loss of cravings for junk food/sugar

Feeling of control over what we consume

Improved skin

More energy

One of the best by-products of focusing so intensely on what you put in your body for 30 days, is the chain reaction that seems to follow. It can make other important dimensions of clean living (e.g., mindfulness, sleep, reducing waste, etc.) not only seem possible, but become a priority. It did for us. We’ve taken our experience and created a ‘Clean Living’ series for our clients to help introduce them to the many dimensions of living clean – from what you eat to how to shop. It all started with food. Now it’s so much more.